So how fast should you punch?
As fast as you can! Well…yes and no. Let’s breakdown this question a bit. (Hint: Is it even the right question?)
At first, I was surprised to get comments on our videos which critiqued our punches as slow. Slow? Maybe we were slowing down for filming purposes. No. Perhaps we couldn’t move quickly enough. Uh, nope. This bothered me until I identified the underlying misconception.
On February 26, 2012, Adam Medhurst, a member of the United Kingdom branch of the International Academy of WingChun (IAW), became our youngest Technician at age 18. I remember meeting him almost exactly three years ago to the day during my 2009 trip to England with Sifu Klaus Brand. We have been in touch ever since via this blog and my Facebook.
Adam receiving his 1st Technician Grade certification from IAW Grandmaster, Sifu Klaus Brand, as his proud teachers Sifu Ed Pettitt and Sifu Tony Hollander look on.
He is an living example of patience plus diligence over time. Not many, regardless of age, continually invest in their chosen craft for the long-term. Adam earns my respect and that of his worldwide IAW family. Congratulations and keep walking the way of the WingChun warrior! Continue reading
The following post is a personal essay my student Mariano Wechsler. He shares his sensory experience of “becoming WingChun”:
Root down, branch out.
I drive my legs to the ground rooting myself down in the Earth. Like an old Oak sucking water from deep among the soil, I draw the energy from my feet into my legs and up to my torso to deliver power through my arms.
This pulse of energy passes through my body again and again like waves crashing ashore, one after the next.
I exhale sharply at the end of each movement as every muscle locks in clock-like synchrony. Continue reading
Motivate forward potential into action.
As I outlined in the previous part of this series, there are three types of WingChun footwork: stances, steps and strikes. For this article, Part 2 of 4, I’m going to describe the essential aspects of stances.
Like a drawn bow, a stance creates and stores potential energy (of position) in your legs, ready to be transferred and released into kinetic energy (of motion) as a step. I’ll analyze this model so you can apply it as a useful training strategy. Continue reading
Ready, set... Go!
I’ll end this series by starting with a quick review. Feed, Read, Deed is a model to process an attack and proceed a defense.
The Feed is how an opponent actually assaults you. The Read is how you optically register and mentally recognize it. The Deed is how you actively respond.
In other words, the Deed is a decisive act based on your best Read of a given Feed. It can range from fright to flight to fight. You may freeze up, take off or face down the threat. Of course, screaming, pleading or fainting is also possible! Continue reading
